The history of school uniforms in public schools in the United States begins with the small underprivileged school of Cherry Hill Elementary in Maryland and the domino effect that was produced shortly after in the years that followed. The popularity of school uniforms can be largely attributed to the Long Beach, California, study and President Bill Clinton's speech on the subject. At first, school uniforms were reserved for private or Catholic schools, but the school uniform trend spread to other public schools to embrace the "preppy look" and success. This has now set a new standard for the American school system. A brief history of school uniforms will provide significant insight into the growing development transforming American schools. In the fall of 1987, Cherry Hill Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland, was the first school to institute a uniform policy. Cherry Hill was primarily an African American school with lower to middle class families. Since they were the first, they now call it the "School Uniform Project" as uniforms began to spread to schools across the country. According to David Brunsma in The School Uniform Movement and What it Tells Us about American Education, this uniform policy was implemented after a Baltimore elementary school student was shot and wounded over "a pair of glasses ninety-five dollar sun” (p. 16). . This incident gave school officials even greater impetus to implement the policy to restore unity and order in the school system. According to Baltimore newspaper The Sun, one parent said, "What we're trying to do is bring this school together as a family." Anyone who cannot afford a uniform should come to us and we will find a solution. » With the support of school officials, a middle of paper ...... percent, and Chicago with eighty percent. Overall, twenty-three percent of public and private schools have adopted a uniform policy. And finally, the average annual sales of school uniforms is $1,300,000,000. Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man.” This quote applies to the issue of school uniforms. Do they make students in American public schools more responsible and orderly? The statistics seem to say yes. There is no doubt that schools across the country are seeing the improvements and adopting the policy themselves. The benefits of school uniforms include decreased violence, helping students reduce peer pressure, greater focus on school work, and the ability of school officials to recognize intruders. What a student wears may seem trivial, but it's worth investigating because it changes America's public education system..